I look around me now as I travel on the underground train (the “tube”) through London today. I see the person sitting across from me reading a newspaper, white ipod headphones in her ears and sms-ing on what looks like an Android touch screen phone. She is receiving stimulus from the world, mainlining stimulus through all senses, maxing out on input. I look up and around the carriage. Everybody has a mobile out and sending and receiving electronic updates. It is so very easy to pass through life in constant reaction to stimulus.

Distractions are Costly

“Distractions are costly: A temporary shift in attention from one task to another – stopping to answer an e-mail or take a phone call, for instance – increases the amount of time necessary to finish the primary task by as much as 25%, a phenomenon known as “switching time”. It’s far more efficient to fully focus for 90 to 120 minutes, take a true break, and then fully focus on the next activity.” Tony Schwartz, Manage your energy, not your time – Harvard Business Review.

The evidence from psychology is clear. Interruptions have a major detrimental effect on your productivity. School does not have classes on focus, on cutting out the email, facebook, twitter, mobile phone calls and concentrating for extended periods on something driven by me, something that is not a reaction to a tweet or a status update or a call. This is a skill that you need to decide to learn for yourself.

There are times for distractions

There are times when letting the distractions in can be fun and necessary. Total focus is not a state that you will want to spend all of your time in. Responding to email, being aware of the action around you, twitter, facebook are part of being connected to the world around you. However, in order to move beyond a permanent zombified state of reaction to incoming stimuli, you must develop the ability to create windows of focus in your life, where you really dedicate your attention for a specific time to one important task.

The ability to focus is something that great leaders and those that make a positive, lasting difference in this world need.

How do I improve my ability to focus?

Here are 10 ways of improving your ability to focus:

Decide it is important – nobody else can do it for you. Begin with small steps, your ability to focus will grow with practice.

Cut out Obvious Distractions – Close down email, browser; clear your desk; get a glass of water. Jim Collins talks about creating non-stimulus time. He does not allow any electronic device in the same room as him before midday. Start small. Do just 10 minutes today removing sources of distraction and focussing on one important task.

Set a timer – use the Pomodoro technique. Set a timer for 10 minutes and do not let yourself stop working on the one task until the timer finishes. Attention fitness takes time to grow, do less than you think you are capable of and accept that your capacity to focus will grow with time. Meditating Buddhist monks take 30 years before they are able to calm the flow of noise in their head and reach total focus. Don’t get frustrated early on. It will take time to grow your capacity to focus. Like self discipline, focus grows with use. Train like athletes preparing for a marathon: add 10% per week.

Divide Actionable from non-Actionable items. Scott Belsky of Behance says that an actionable task starts with an action verb: “call A”, “buy a gift for B”, “follow up contract with C”.

Take proper breaks. When you finish with your focus time, get up from your work area and really take a break. Stretch, take a short walk, go outside and be with nature. Opening a browser window and reading news or email is not a real break.

Anticipate your physical needs. Go to the bathroom before you start your focus time. Get a drink of water and put it on the table. Make sure your chair is comfortable.

Use Music – Listening to music helps me focus and cut out other distractions.

Reward yourself. Celebrate small successes. Eat some chocolate when you finish an important task. Have a coffee only when you finish another 10 minutes of total focus.

Do what Nike says – “Just Do It”. Don’t let your resistance win. When I start writing, I will not stop until I have written 500 words. If I have to, I will write “I will keep writing, I will keep writing” until another idea comes to mind… but I will not let myself stop. Repeated practice has reduced the little voices in my head that say “why are you doing this? Who is going to read this? Who are you to be writing this stuff?”

You made it here? 3 minutes of attention? That puts you in the small percentage of people who have found strategies to manage their attention in the overwhelming swarm of distractions that make up a typical life in the modern world.

The Origin of Leaders series

This series of posts has now looked at 6 of the powerful keys to unlocking leadership in your life and in the communities which matter to you: